Noctua NH-L12Sx77 Makes For A Great Low-Profile CPU Cooler

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Noctua NH-L12Sx77 Makes For A Great Low-Profile CPU Cooler

Last week Noctua announced the NH-L12Sx77 low-profile CPU cooler as effectively an upgraded version of their NH-L12s CPU cooler that is now slightly taller to offer better performance and improved system compatibility.

https://www.phoronix.com/review/noctua-nh-l12sx77

[skeevy420]

I have a U12A and my 7800X3D has never thermal throttled. In a house with the heat and air set to 21C I idle around 44C and stress and mprime can get it up to 85C after a few minutes of testing and I can barely hear it. That's paired with 5 case fans. It drops 20C instantly after quitting the tests and within 30 seconds my system is back to idle temps.

Noctua makes damn good air coolers.

The U12A is 120mm tall with two fans compared to this one being 77mm tall with one fan. Mine is the space saving model for mini and mid-tower ATX systems.

[M@GOid]

While Noctua is a bulletproof way to get a good cooler without any research, their competition have given them more than a run for their money. A decade ago Noctuas where invariably in the top 2 spots in any benchmark, but today they tend to lag behind some other brands. It is not that they are selling trash, but the competition is a lot tougher than it used to be. And today you can get stuff that is the triple threat: cooler, quieter, cheaper.

[varikonniemi]

It looks really good. At a quick glance there is nothing to improve. (the previous version had obvious things to improve, which they did!)

[pWe00Iri3e7Z9lHOX2Qx]

While Noctua is a bulletproof way to get a good cooler without any research, their competition have given them more than a run for their money. A decade ago Noctuas where invariably in the top 2 spots in any benchmark, but today they tend to lag behind some other brands. It is not that they are selling trash, but the competition is a lot tougher than it used to be. And today you can get stuff that is the triple threat: cooler, quieter, cheaper.

Exactly this. Noctua coolers are still awesome. But there are some amazing budget coolers out there these days for half the price. E.g. Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE for ~$30 USD. Obvious caveat applies about anyone's particular case and what fits...

[muncrief]

I remember having a very difficult time finding a low profile cooler for my Ryzen 5 4600G mini-ITX media server build. I used a Cooler Master Elite 130 case originally intended for an Athlon 5370 mini-ITX build, but when the board died I found fitting the new board/CPU into it was quite a challenge. However I eventually found the Silverstone KR01 Low Profile cooler, which is only 54mm tall, and it's worked fantastically. And it was only around $30 which was definitely a plus.

The problem with the Cooler Master case comes when you have to install a discrete power supply. It protrudes out over the top of the CPU and there's not even enough space for a 77mm high cooler.

The original Athlon 5370 board had a built-in power supply powered by a laptop power brick so this wasn't an issue, but the 4600G board required a discrete power supply so it was definitely a very tight build.

[Adarion]

Intersting cooler that I'll add to my to-consider-list for narrow cases. The warranty also looks nice.

[Anux]

I have the L12s, it's essentially the same with just a few mm less height. It's good for 65 W CPUs but definitely not noiseless under full load. But superb for everything that is only medium load.